ompanied Alexander
the Great to India had brought rumours from the Indians of this new
land. But if the Indians knew of Australia, there is no trace of their
having visited the continent.

Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, who explored the East Indies, speaks
of a Java Major as well as a Java Minor, and in that he may refer to
Australia; but he made no attempt to reach the land. Some old maps fill
up the ocean from the East Indies to the South Pole with a vague
continent called Terra Australis; but plainly they were only guessing,
and did not have any real knowledge.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Spanish and Portuguese sailors
pushed on bravely with the work of exploring the East Indies, and some
of their maps of the period give indications of a knowledge of the
existence of the Australian Continent. But the definite discovery did
not come until 1605, when De Quiros and De Torres, Spanish Admirals,
sailed to the East Indies and heard of the southern continent. They
sailed in search of it, but only succeeded in touching at some of the
outlying islands. One of the New Hebrides De Quiros called "Terra
Australis del Espiritu Santo" (the Southern Land of the Holy Ghost),
fancying the island to be Australia. That gave the name "Australia,"
which is all that survives to remind us of Spanish exploration.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Dutch sailors set to work to
search for the new southern land, and in 1605, 1616, and 1617
undoubtedly touched on points of Australia. In 1642 Tasman--from whom
Tasmania, a southern island of Australia, gets its name--made important
discoveries as to the southern coast. He called the island first Van
Diemen's Land, after Maria Van Diemen, the girl whom he loved; but this
name was afterwards changed. Maria Island, off the coast of Tasmania,
still, however, keeps fresh the memory of the Dutch sailor's sweetheart.

But none of these nations was destined to be the Fairy Prince to waken
Australia out of her long sleep. That privilege was kept for the British
race; we cannot but think happily, for no Spanish or Dutch colony has
ever reached to the greatness and the happiness of an Australia, a
Canada, or a South Africa. It is in the British blood, it seems, to
colonize happily. The gardeners of the British race know how to "plant
out" successfully. They shelter and protect the young trees in their
far-away countries through the perils of infancy, and then let them grow
up